A Little Bit of Sewing

Good morning, my friends. It's another Monday. Happily, it'll be a mostly-sewing day for me. I took the weekend off from doing any workouts, but I'll need to get back to that today. Aside from that, it will be NBS for me.

As expected, I didn't get much sewing done yesterday, but I finished my "Circus" piece. It now has a space on the wall of my sewing room. Here's a peek for you.

Yeah...sorry. You'll have to wait until the reveal on May 1st. I can show you the back, though. 

That polka dot fabric has been in my stash for a very long time. I used up all but a few scraps with this quilt, and it was just what I needed. There was a time when I followed the Field of Dreams rule: "If you build it, he will come." Only, I personalized it for quilting: "If you buy the fabric, the quilt will come." Sometimes it takes longer than other times.

Oh yes, and I can show you the binding.

But that's all you get. On May 1st, I'll show you the whole thing.

So we needed to leave just after lunch to attend a town hall with our Oregon Senator, Jeff Merkley. It was a standing-room-only crowd at a middle school gymnasium in our small county. Our rural county tends to be a "red" county, although Oregon is a reliably blue state. In any case, I was surprised at the turnout. This is democracy in action, my friends.

Here's our senator. I'd never seen him speak in person before, but I was impressed by his energy and his candor. Also, he seems like a decent human being. It's refreshing to see in politics right now.

When I wrote yesterday's post, I said I would share anything he said that was reassuring. There was nothing in particular that I want to share, except that he told us about the work he and his Democratic colleagues are going. He also told us that some of his Republican colleagues are expressing doubts and concerns behind the scenes. That was at least somewhat reassuring. I posted the two pictures above to an Oregon 50501 group on Facebook. 

50501 stands for 50 Protests, 50 States, 1 Voice. If you're on Facebook, there's probably a group for your state. There, I learned that Merkley held town halls all across Oregon yesterday. They were all standing room only, and some actually turned people away when they became overcrowded. That, in itself, is very reassuring to me.

Later in the evening, I realized that just being there helped me to feel less isolated and alone with my personal concerns about how things are going in government. Being in a large crowd of like-minded people was reassuring in and of itself. Mike and I agreed that we want to do more of this when the opportunity presents itself. If you have a chance to meet with your elected representatives, I encourage you to do so, and see if it doesn't help you to feel less alone with your worries and fears.

So that's all I'll say about that. It was a worthwhile way to spend the afternoon. We got lucky with the weather. It was pouring rain when we left home, and it rained hard for the whole 30-minute drive to the venue. By the time we arrived, the rain had slowed to a drizzle. When the event was over, and we returned to the outdoors, the sun was shining brightly. We went to a nearby brewpub for an early dinner, and then headed for home. It ended up being a good way to spend the day.

And you're probably tired of seeing this picture, but I'll show it again for those of you in the back. It will get all my attention in the sewing room today. I have a couple of ideas for how I want to sew it together, but I need to lay out the blocks and look at them again.

They are different sizes, having been cut from a panel. I'm trying to decide whether to cut them all to the same size, or whether to simply trim them and work with the size differences. If I do that, I could sew them together to appear as if they are floating, as I did with the Ruth's Legacy quilt top...this one:

If not, then I'll probably trim them all to the same size and set them in the traditional way with sashings and cornerstones. The other idea I have is to set them with some panel blocks. I happen to know I have at least one cat panel among my supplies. I'll need to get it out and look at it before I can decide anything else.

So...there's a lot to think about with this. I hope to have it started in one way or another by day's end. It's unlikely I'll finish it today, but the sooner I start, the sooner I'll finish. And so, off I go. Have a good day and a good week, Everybody!